


Work

by Shatterpath



Series: Avengers: based on The Ultimate Fanfic Challenge [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Super Soldier Serum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-08
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 07:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2101461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Once the serum had done its work, Steve had been through a lot of tests.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Work

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've had this 'The Ultimate FanFic Challenge' floating around my computer for years. A table of 100 one or two word prompts, some of which are interrelated. (eg: spring, summer, fall, winter) Since I'm a recent Marvel Movieverse convert, and an even more recent Steve/Natasha convert, I flicked the dust off this table, borrowed the roomie's 10-sided dice and got to work! There will be little rhyme or reason to these ficlets, though some will be interrelated and posted as such. Enjoy!
> 
> Prompt is title- #89: Work

Once the serum had done its work, Steve had been through a lot of tests.

A lot of tests.

But SHIELD had access to technologies in this era that would have made even Howard Stark drool. That the current machine of torture had been built by his son was an irony that had not escaped Steve.

It hadn't been often that he'd been able to really open the throttle on his super-human speed, and never at the expense of a machine. Whatever this weird treadmill was made of, it did the job, remaining solid beneath Steve's pounding feet, feeling as unmovable as concrete. As Steve grew more familiar with the machine, he pushed and pushed, relishing the unfamiliar burn of fatigue weighing him down like a normal man. That very first day in this body, he'd barely noticed how Peggy had almost touched him, as startled as she at how he'd been changed. He'd tackled her away from the Hydra agent trying to run her down, raced through the streets of New York faster than a race horse.

Sweat beaded on his skin and his breath was like bellows in the mask tracking his oxygen usage as Steve ran alongside his memories, ran like he was trying to catch the people he left behind.

"Well isn't that quite the sight," Pepper murmured in purely aesthetic appreciation of the show and made Natasha quirk a grin. Who wasn't curious about just what this man was really capable of? That he was very easy on the eyes didn't hurt any, of course. Though Natasha was beginning to wonder just what it was that he was trying to outrace, something desperate in the blur of arms and legs, his body bent towards the horizontal.

Even as she straightened to make a move to investigate, Steve stumbled while peaking out at nearly forty miles an hour. Thankfully, the strappy harness Tony had forced on him that looked more S&M than R&D, did its job and kept the bigger man from smashing to the moving surface. Natasha vaulted over the railing and landed lightly on the advanced treadmill platform as it came to a halt and Steve wearily got his legs under him.

"Let him down, guys," she ordered and the leash keeping Steve tethered mostly upright loosened, letting him rest on hands and knees, breathing like a winded racehorse. He was soaked in sweat, hair sticking up wildly between the straps of the mask, breath harsh and muffled. "Just rest, boss. That was great."

Nodding wearily, Steve rolled onto his back to stare sightlessly at the ceiling, knowing he could never run fast enough to catch up to all that he had lost.


End file.
